The present disclosure relates generally to mobile document imaging and transmission, and relates more particularly to mobile document imaging and transmission via facsimile.
Facsimile document transmission continues to have an important role in business communications for a number of reasons including the ability to transfer images not stored on local computer, legal acceptance of handwritten signatures, real-time confirmation of receipt, confidence in what has been received, and a ‘tamper resistant’ copy of the information transferred. Facsimile machines are generally ubiquitous on a global scale to easily take advantage of existent telecommunications networks. Facsimile machines may also be shared by a number of individuals so that sending and receiving documents can be relatively efficient among a general population or group of persons.
As used herein, the term “document” is used to encompass a construct that conveys information that can be represented in the form of readable characters, symbols or graphics, whether text, images or formatting, in electronic, paper, or other tangible form. Thus, the term “document” includes images or portions of images derived from paper or hard copy scans or image capture operations, and can be abbreviated, truncated, condensed, expanded or appended to before, during or after transmission/reception. The term “document” also encompasses information that represents readable characters, symbols or graphics in electronic form that have no original paper counterpart.
Documents are often transformed into other representations such as by printing, scanning or transmission. In the case of document transmission, transformation of the document often occurs as part of the transmission process, such as with transmission by facsimile or email. In such facsimile transmissions, the document may be transformed to an image representation suitable or desirable for facsimile transmissions, such as a TIFF format. An image document generally refers to a representation of information suitable for display or transmission that is usually viewed as an electronic image or picture. A text document generally refers to a representation of information with text characters, such as a document that includes ASCII type characters.
Mobile phones and other wireless devices such as wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) and handsets or headsets are available that provide wireless communications with a number of different channels. Mobile phones, for example, are offered with voice channel communications, which are typically tailored to carrying voice data in terms of frequency spectrum and signal compression. Wireless communication devices may also include a signal channel, typically used for call set up and tear down, as well as call control functions. In addition, many wireless communication devices offer a data channel, sometimes referred to as mobile networking. These types of data channels may theoretically permit data rates in a range of from about 7.2 megabits per second (mbps) up to about 14.4 mbps on a downlink side and about 5.8 mbps on an uplink side. Data rates are typically reduced for wireless devices that are in motion. The data channel communications standard is described by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Standard IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications-2000). The defined standards include code division multiple access (CDMA) and time division CDMA (TD-CDMA).
The data channel available on wireless communication devices permits a wide range of capabilities for telephony and messaging, including telephone conversation, teleconferencing, instant messaging, email, web browsing, scheduling and document viewing and editing. Service carriers support these types of data rich applications with high data bandwidth availability for the data channel. The data channel for wireless communication devices is sometimes referred to presently as 3G (third generation) wireless communications.
Another feature often provided with wireless communication devices is a high resolution imaging device, such as a digital camera or digital video recorder. Depending upon the manufacturer, the digital image devices range anywhere from 1-10+ megapixels in resolution. In general, 2+ megapixels can provide a nominal resolution that is suitable for imaging. An application often used with wireless communication devices having a digital imaging device is the capture of an image, such as a photograph, that can be sent over the above-described data channel.
The facility of a digital camera coupled with a wireless communication device has been used to send images of documents that are captured using the digital imaging device. According to one known implementation, a digital image of a document is captured using the digital image device, and sent to a centralized data server using the data channel of the wireless communication device. The centralized server offers a service whereby the document image is used to reconstruct a document suitable for word processing, printing or email or facsimile transmission. Other applications are known where documents may be received over a data channel at a wireless communication device and edited and forwarded to a recipient. Applications are also available that permit printing of a document from a wireless communication device. For example, wireless communication devices are often equipped with interoperative wireless local area network (LAN) capability, which is often referred to as WI-FI®. WI-FI type communications can be used to wirelessly connect to a local area network with relatively high bandwidth. The document on the wireless communication device can be sent through a WI-FI type channel to a local area network or properly equipped printer to permit the document to be printed. In addition, applications exist that permit the user to send a formatted document to a centralized server, using WI-FI type communications or a data channel, for transmission to a facsimile device, such as a local facsimile machine. With such a facility, a user can print a formatted document at a local facsimile machine, or at a properly configured printer.